The project will be divided into phases with each block being constructed individually to minimize disruption to local residents and business. The completed park will run between 1st – 5th avenues on Bell Street. AGR Construction will begin phase one between 1st to 2nd avenues with completion anticipated by the end of May 2013.

Seattle Parks is providing safe access to all businesses and residents along this portion of Bell Street during construction. Parks appreciates the neighborhood’s consideration and cooperation during construction and encourages residents to contact Project Manager Patrick Donohue with construction concerns.

Bell Street Park will be a unique park for Seattle, providing much needed community open space for the high density Belltown neighborhood. The Parks and Green Spaces Levy project provides the funding to convert one traffic lane and reconfigures parking to create a park-like corridor through the heart of Belltown on Bell Street.

The project was first envisioned in the 1998 Belltown/Denny Triangle Neighborhood Plan with leadership from the Belltown Housing and Land Use Committee. Subsequently, the Belltown Community Council, Belltown Business Association and other community groups requested that the City develop the project as a response to inadequate open space facilities in the neighborhood and the difficulty in purchasing property for such uses.

The Seattle Board of Park Commissioners will hold its regular meeting at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, January 10, in the Kenneth R. Bounds Park Board Room at 100 Dexter Ave. N, in Denny Park at the corner of Dexter and Denny. The meeting agenda includes:

Park Safety and Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (CPTED). Parks and Seattle Police Department staff will brief the board on the department’s efforts to incorporate CPTED principals when planning and designing parks.

Coal terminals. The Board will finalize a letter expressing concerns about any expansion of coal terminals that would result in more trains traveling through Seattle parks.

Committee reports.

Associated Recreation Council – Commissioners Angulo

Central Waterfront – Commissioner Kincaid

Discovery Park Mitigation Fund – Commissioner Barber

Seattle Parks Foundation – Commissioner Maryman

The Seattle Board of Park Commissioners is a nine-member citizen board created by the City Charter. Four members are appointed by the Mayor and confirmed by the City Council; four members are appointed by the City Council; and one member is a young adult appointed by the YMCA Get Engaged Program (http://www.leadershiptomorrowseattle.org/YMCA.asp). Current members are Antoinette Angulo, John Barber, Megan Heahlke, Jourdan Keith, Chair Diana Kincaid, Brice Maryman, Caitlin McKee, Yazmin Mehdi and Barbara Wright.

The Board meets once a month, normally on the second Thursday, to advise the Parks and Recreation Superintendent, the Mayor, and the City Council on parks and recreation matters. For more information, please call Sandy Brooks at 206-684-5066 or email her at sandy.brooks@seattle.gov.

This press release is available on Seattle Parks and Recreation’s blog, Parkways.